FRIENDS of a popular pub landlord who died suddenly have spoken of their sadness and anger after scammers took money from mourners by claiming to provide a livestream of his funeral service.

The funeral of Alex Pope, the landlord of the Paul Pry pub in Worcester, took place at Worcester Cathedral on Monday, February 19.

Now there is anger from Mr Pope's family and friends as multiple people are said to have fallen victim to the scam.

The 39-year-old ran the popular pub in The Butts from 2017 and bought it in 2022, quickly turning it into one of the best-loved pubs in the city. 

Hundreds of people attended his funeral, leaving family and friends 'beyond devastated and broken' with tributes read out at the service by his three brothers, Tom, Jack and Edward.

Malvern Gazette: LOVED: Alex Pope, landlord of the Paul Pry in The Butts in Worcester whose funeral was held at Worcester Cathedral on February 19 LOVED: Alex Pope, landlord of the Paul Pry in The Butts in Worcester whose funeral was held at Worcester Cathedral on February 19 (Image: Paul Pry pub)

In a post, shared by the pub on Facebook and Instagram, the team spoke of their anger and sadness after learning that an online group called the 'Alexander James Pope Funeral Service Live' has taken money from people, claiming to livestream the funeral.

 The group is in no way linked or affiliated to the pub or Mr Pope's family and friends, who provided a free livestream, and has been condemned by them in the public post. 

A spokesperson for the pub said:  "Hey folks, first of all, thank you for all of the love and support that has continuously been shown to us over the last few weeks, during this awful time.

Malvern Gazette: FAKE: The page has taken money from people and has been criticised by the team at the Paul Pry pub and friends of the late landlord, Alex PopeFAKE: The page has taken money from people and has been criticised by the team at the Paul Pry pub and friends of the late landlord, Alex Pope (Image: Online)

"As you all know, Alex’s funeral took place on February 19th. Unfortunately it has come to our attention that there was a Facebook group made claiming to stream Alex’s funeral online, we want to make it extremely clear that Alex’s funeral was only ever streamed live from the official Paul Pry Facebook account organised by the family and was completely free to do so with no expectation of donations or gifts.

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"This was purely so that those who also loved Alex dearly could be a part of the day in some way even if they could not physically attend.

"We are saddened to hear that unfortunately this page required people to sign up with the promise of watching the live stream and took bank information upon signing up.

"To our knowledge there are multiple people who have unfortunately had money taken out of their accounts without permission which has both shocked and angered us.

"Please report the page if you come across it (Photo image attached). To reiterate we are NOT affiliated with this page at all, the funeral service stream is recorded and still saved to our page if you didn’t get a chance to attend, completely free and saved for anyone to watch.

"If you have been scammed by this page please contact your bank immediately. If you could share this post, that would be really appreciated and helpful in reaching more people! All our love, The Paul Pry team."